The Well-Clad Belly

December 3, 2009

I still don’t look visibily pregnant – I actually just look like I’ve been eating too many cookies, which is somewhat discouraging. And, truth be told, I probably have been eating too many cookies. But I’m already well into the exciting realm of pants extenders for the expectant, as my waist vanished into thin air several weeks ago (I do hope to see it again someday, but if not, well, we had a good run).

I’m currently working the BellyBelt, a short, tough strip of fabric-covered elastic that has buttons at one end and a buttonhole at the other so that you can add a few inches to the circumference of your regular pants. There is also a longer strip for later in the pregnancy – it’s somewhat daunting to realize that even the longer strip is just child’s play in the face of how large I will eventually become.

Anyway, so while the BellyBelt allows you to fasten your pants around your rapidly thickening waist for just a little bit longer, they no longer zip all the way up. This wasn’t an issue for a while, until my belly got big enough to start actively digging into the exposed teeth of the zipper. Yeouch.

Fortunately, the good people at BellyBelt thoughtfully enclosed three panels of fabric that you can loop around the elastic extender and tuck into your pants – so instead of exposed belly showing through your open zipper, you have kind of a crotch dickey effect (obviously, the success of the BellyBelt is heavily reliant upon long tops).

I’ve also purchased, but have not yet tried, the BellyBand, a stretchy Ace-bandage sort of thing that you shimmy into and arrange over your pants (which presumably are no longer closing at all at this point). It definitely looks like it has the capacity to gradually work its way up over the course of the day into a vise-like, circulation-constricting grip. Maybe I’ll keep Eric on standby to cut it off me with his Swiss Army knife if I start losing feeling in my legs.